Dial H for Heroics

Josie watched the crowd as they walked the streets. Some of them watched them back. She stood out compared to the women around her. She must look like a hooker to the people.

“I’m going to need some adventurer clothes,” she said. “Everyone is looking at me.”

“Me too,” said Jack. “I guess we look like we’ve been robbed and they took

everything.”

“If we can get a room, I can see if Alchemy will work on our clothes,” said Josie. “It might be only good for just changing from one element to another.”

“We’ll figure that out when we find a place we can use,” said Jack. “I’m looking for something that looks like a bar. You see anything?”

“No,” said Josie. “How long do you think we have before the local police show up to ask us what’s going on?”

“Hopefully not before I think of a lie I can tell them,” said Jack.

Josie frowned at her friend. He was too cheerful about being lost in a place where he was expected to kill the local big monster for something they didn’t know.

“Are you okay, Jack?,” she asked.

“I think so,” said Jack. “Everything seems to be working just fine. I think being the Angel calmed me down a little as some kind of side effect. Something like that sees a lot of invisible stuff going on, but you have to make it relevant.”

“Is that how you found me falling?,” asked Josie. It made sense. How powerful were the artifacts on their arms? Could they call someone like Galactus as a hero? Did they want to?

“I was falling, and I wanted to find you,” said Jack. “The fact what I got was not what I wanted was a fluke. The heightened senses zeroed in on you like that. But the power drain was enormous. That reminds me. I’m hungry.”

“No money means no food,” said Josie. “And we don’t know how money works here.”

Jack looked around. He didn’t want to hand over one of their gold sheets without knowing what the value was. He needed someone trustworthy to help them. He zeroed in on a guy with a cart of fruit. He headed toward the fruit seller, not thinking about Josie switching directions to follow him.

“Hey, buddy,” said Jack, waving at the vendor as he approached. “I was wondering if you could help us. We were robbed by some vagrants, and we need to find a bank to get some money to try to start over. Would you know where we could find one of those?”

“A bank?,” asked the vendor. “There’s a place to exchange money over in the other street over there. Just keep going the way you were going, turn right when you see the surly watchman, and then walk down until you see two big guys standing in front of a blue door. That should be the exchange.”

“Thanks,” said Jack. “We’re new in town, and it’s been a bad time so far.”

“Welcome to Hawk Ridge,” said the vendor. “Take a couple of apples with you. Your day can only go up from here.”

“Thanks, Buddy,” said Jack. He picked two of the smallest apples and handed one to Josie. “Name’s Jack. I’ll come by when things are going better.”

“Thanks for the apple,” said Josie.

“Have better luck, friends,” said the vendor. “Name’s Ken. Everyone in the square knows me.”

“Thanks,” said Jack. “Have a good one, Ken.”

Jack started off. Josie followed, waving at Ken as she went. She bit in the apple as she walked. Jack gave his to a passerby going into a building.

“This is good,” said Josie. She waved the half-eaten apple at her friend.

“Hate fruits,” said Jack. “There’s the surly watchman.”

“So we turn in the street and head down until we see two bouncers,” said Josie. “The problem is will they let us in to do business dressed like this.”

“I’m more worried if we have to fight our way clear because I don’t have a middle range fighter,” said Jack. “I either have a bird, or Ultraman. I don’t have anyone like Iron Fist, or Daredevil.”

“You don’t?,” said Josie. She checked her watch. Both the Karate Kid and Richard Dragon was on the list. If she had to fight, those were the guys she would start with and maybe switch to Supergirl to use the skills and speed that hero had.

“I have them, but I’m afraid of what they would be when I called them,” said Jack. “Iron Fist might just be a guy with a metal hand instead of the martial arts guy who can take down the Hulk.”

“Try Shang Chi if you have to fight,” said Josie. “I remember he was one of Marvel’s fighters, and his name is just a name, so there’s not a lot of play in what the watch can do to change him.”

“Good idea,” said Jack. “We need to take some time and experiment so we know which ones are more useful in what situation.”

“We need to think about walking into this place with some gold, and hoping they won’t rob us,” said Josie.

“Of course, they are going to try to rob us,” said Jack. “The gold is free to us, but it will cost them something to just buy it off of us.”

“Unless they try to steal it from us,” said Josie.

“Which is why I’m going to need you to get ready to fight while I negotiate,” Jack said. “If we have to rob them to make our escape, I’m good with that.”

“You didn’t use to be ready to rob people,” said Josie.

“I used to rob people all the time,” said Jack. “I have layers, you know.”

“You kind of look like Shrek,” said Josie. She smiled.

“Just be ready to go when I’m ready to go,” said Jack. He shook his head as he led the way down the street. He nodded when he saw the two guards standing at the door. “Gold Exchange and Monies.”

Josie hoped the Karate Kid would be all right for what they were doing. She wanted someone who could tell them if they were being lied to while making the deal.

Someone like Hector Hammond would be useful if the powers worked the same way. She didn’t want to risk it if she couldn’t control anything he might have other than telepathy.

Jack was right. They needed to unlock and use more heroes to figure out what was useful and what was not. At least the Legion should give her a range without too much change.

She hung back as Jack walked up and talked to the bouncers. He nodded at their reply. One of them opened the door. Jack waved her forward. He led the way into the building, looking around.

Josie looked at the black stone set for the floor, carved columns holding up the roof, and a heavy counter with bars to protect the tellers from robbery. She supposed that was what the bars were for.

She wondered how many times somebody tried to rob the place. Magic had to exist in this world. Did they stop magicians from trying to get through the walls.

She concentrated on the walls. She spotted writing at the base of the walls. It could be some kind of rune system. Maybe it kept people out of the building unless they came in through the front door.

Maybe it summoned a monstrous watchdog to protect the bank in the night.

Jack walked up to the counter. He smiled at the ladies working behind the bars. They smiled back at him.

They looked faker than usual to Josie. She didn’t say anything. It wasn’t up to her to tell workers to enjoy their job more.

“We’re new in town, and we have had a run of bad luck,” said Jack. “A local vendor said you could give us real money for gold. Is that true?”

“It depends on what kind of gold you are talking about,” said the counter lady forced to deal with Jack. “What kind of gold?”

“I have four sheets,” said Jack. He showed them the gold sheets he had created from the rocks she had transformed. “They’re all the same.”

“I would have to test this,” said the counter lady. “Can you wait here?”

“Sure,” said Jack. “We’ll be glad to do that.”

The dialers stepped away from the counter. Josie figured the place was wired for sound somehow. How should she talk about the rune system?

“Do you think they’ll have a problem with the gold?,” she asked. She nodded at the runes.

“I don’t think so,” said Jack. He looked at the base of the wall. He nodded at the line of letters. “I’m more worried about getting out of here. This place is making my creep factor start up.”

“Creep factor?,” asked Josie. She was almost afraid of the explanation.

“It’s like spider sense,” said Jack. “If the regular creep factor was a Twinkie, the creep factor of this building and staff would be the size of a Labrador.”

“I can see that,” said Josie.

The counter lady returned with the sheet of gold. She put it on the counter and waved Jack back to her. He checked her colleagues, but nothing seemed wrong.

“I had this checked and talked with the floor manager,” said the counter lady. “We can change your gold into currency and put it in an account that will be covered by any Gold Exchange in the country.”

“How many are those?,” asked Jack.

“Twenty five right now,” said the counter lady. “We’re always expanding.”

“So how much would four sheets like that be worth?,” asked Jack.

“About six hundred silver,” said the counter lady.

“How much would a brick be worth?,” asked Jack.

“A brick?,” said the teller. She looked around the room.

“A brick of gold,” said Jack.

“It would have to be weighed but I think a few thousand silver at the low end is all I can guarantee,” said the counter lady.

“I’ll sign the paperwork,” said Jack. “I have four sheets of gold, so that will be twenty four hundred silver. My associate is going to need to be able to access this account too.”

Josie waved her fingers to indicate she was the associate.

“And we’re going to need some silver to take with us since we’re going to need to buy clothes and get lodging for the next few days,” said Jack. “Is that doable?”

“Certainly, sir,” said the counter lady. “If you’ll fill out the paperwork, I will pull out your ledger and start your account.”

The counter lady handed Jack the paperwork and walked away. He handed the paperwork to Josie. She had more experience dealing with banks and agreements.

“The fees on this is usurious,” Josie said after reading the paperwork. “They are charging you an arm and leg to use their services.”

“Do we go somewhere else, or do we put up with it?,” said Jack. “What are our options?”

“We need more information,” said Josie. “Right now, we have no choice unless you want to make gold counterfeits. I think I could do that if I had an idea of what the money looked like.”

“Let’s pretend we’re not criminals and sign the paperwork,” said Jack. “Then if we start having problems, we rob the bank and get our money back.”

“I can get the clothes and change them as Alchemy,” said Josie. “Now that I have an idea of what people wear, I can match that well enough.”

“And we need a base of operations, and a place to get information,” said Jack. “We can try for rooms at an inn, or maybe buy a house on the cheap. Then we’re going to need someone who knows the local news that we don’t.”

“I’m glad Mr. Warner isn’t tangled up in this,” said Josie.

“I know,” said Jack. “But he’s a bigger fan than us. He’d probably be able to use his watch better than we can.”